Fly patterns

A leech profile with an egg hot spot, recognized as one of the most effective flies on Great Lakes tributary steelhead streams and, per Current Works, less intrusive than most patterns for selective fish. Betts fishes it for Pere Marquette fall salmon, and Michigan coho anglers swing it through runs and tailouts. Dead-drift or swing black, purple or olive bodies with chartreuse, orange, red or pink heads from September through April; #8 versions take pink salmon.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Streamers

The most-cited Michigan salmon fly: black, olive and purple buggers for Chinook and coho, 'essential' on the Pere Marquette, swung or dead-drifted into staged fish from September through October, especially in off-color water. A #8 beadhead in black, olive or pink is the standard pink salmon fly on the St. Marys and Carp in September, and #8 to #12 buggers serve brook trout and small browns all season. Downsize and slow down for trout, upsize and add a hot head for salmon.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck

Current Works reaches for black leeches (String Leech, Silvey's Tail Light, Miles Davis, Larimer's Reverse Marabou) in high, dirty water, when a dark silhouette shows better than any natural color. Betsie salmon anglers use dark leeches with flash dead-drifted or swung. Fish it during spring runoff and after fall rains.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Chuck and duck · Streamers

Current Works strips a Flashtail Clouser on sink tips for fresh Betsie and Manistee salmon, and chartreuse/white and pink Clousers are coho standards. In white and gray it doubles as a smelt or alewife imitation for St. Marys Atlantics in late June and July. Fish it with fast strips in the lowest holding water above the lake.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

Krystal Flash and Flashabou-winged flies (Pope's, California Neon, Pink Pop Cycle) built for coho, which respond to flash more than kings. Chartreuse is best in low light or slightly murky water. Strip or swing them for fresh chrome coho in the lower Platte, Manistee, Betsie and St. Joseph from mid September into November; the recommendation is general coho lore, not Michigan-sourced.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

Feenstra's rabbit-strip and flash sculpin, sold by shops as the Aqua Nuisance: a size 1 or 1/0 fly that 'shines during the fall and spring months when fish are aggressive,' in low light and stained water, for steelhead, salmon and large trout. Feenstra fishes it fall through spring and rates it best in water over 38 F. Swing it on a heavy tip through the deep runs of the Muskegon and Big Manistee.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Streamers

Kevin Feenstra's all-purpose sculpin: a grizzly marabou tail, an emu-feather body palmered with schlappen, mallard flank fins and a possum or wool head. Devised as a smallmouth fly, it became a favorite steelhead fly that Feenstra describes as working year-round for multiple species; swing it on a sink tip in the Muskegon and Manistee.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Streamers

One of Chuck Hawkins' top ten Michigan flies, a parr imitation that is 'great for early spring in the Midwest' on any river with a migration of salmon parr, for steelhead, brown trout and salmon. Anna River browns selected stocked coho smolts over sculpins in May, so fish it March through June on the Muskegon, Manistee, PM and Betsie.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Indicator nymphing

Current Works fishes Rabbit Strip Leeches on sink tips with 9 to 10 weight rods for fresh salmon in the lower Betsie and Manistee, and MidCurrent lists bunny leeches with hot-spot heads #2 to #6 for aggressive steelhead. Strip or swing it through the first holding water above the lake from late August through October.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

U.P. steelhead guides add white Zonkers and White Deaths #8 to the spring rig when smelt and shiners are in the lower rivers. Dead-drift it under an indicator or swing it through runs from April into June on Lake Superior tributaries and the St. Marys.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Indicator nymphing

A big, bright marabou attractor that a Michigan guide lists with Egg Sucking Leeches and Intruders as 'bright flies that bring out angry strikes from the salmon.' Swing or dead-drift it at the head of the pool where staged Chinook and coho hold in September and October.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Chuck and duck · Streamers